From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

People v. Stith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 30, 1995
215 A.D.2d 789 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)

Opinion

May 30, 1995

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Clabby, J.).


Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant contends that he was deprived of a fair trial by certain comments made by the prosecutor during summation, which suggested, inter alia, that the defense counsel had mistreated the complainant during his aggressive cross-examination of her and denigrated the defense counsel's strategy and tactics. We note, however, that the Trial Justice sustained objections to several of the allegedly improper remarks and promptly issued curative instructions which were sufficient to dissipate any potential prejudice (see, People v Ferguson, 213 A.D.2d 668; People v Gaines, 212 A.D.2d 727). Furthermore, the challenged comments were, for the most part, fair response to the defense summation, which extensively attacked the complainant's credibility and demeanor (see, People v Galloway, 54 N.Y.2d 396; People v Lee, 209 A.D.2d 723) and did not unduly prejudice the defendant (see, People v Robinson, 208 A.D.2d 961).

The defendant's claim that the Trial Justice failed to properly instruct the jury on the elements of kidnapping in the second degree is unpreserved for appellate review because the defense counsel failed to object to the charge as given (see, CPL 470.05; People v Udzinski, 146 A.D.2d 245). In any event, the charge, viewed in its entirety, adequately defined the elements of kidnapping in the second degree (see, People v Canty, 60 N.Y.2d 830). Balletta, J.P., O'Brien, Altman and Krausman, JJ., concur.


Summaries of

People v. Stith

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
May 30, 1995
215 A.D.2d 789 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)
Case details for

People v. Stith

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. WILLIAM STITH…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: May 30, 1995

Citations

215 A.D.2d 789 (N.Y. App. Div. 1995)
627 N.Y.S.2d 717

Citing Cases

People v. Wiltshire

05; People v. Gray, 86 N.Y.2d 10, 19; People v. Mapp, 245 A.D.2d 307). In any event, most, if not all, of the…

People v. Wallace

Accordingly, the instructions must be deemed to have corrected any error to the defendant's satisfaction…